Effect of processing treatments on nutritional and antinutritional contents of green gram

High-yielding varieties of green gram (Vigna radiata L.), namely Asha and MH1K-25 contained a significant amount of antinutrients. Various processing and cooking methods, namely soaking, dehulling, ordinary cooking, pressure cooking and sprouting, decreased the level of antinutrients and improved in vitro digestibility of protein and in vitro availability of calcium, iron and zinc observed. The beneficial effect was more pronounced with pressure-cooked and soaked seeds followed by ordinary cooking, sprouting (24 h), dehulling and soaking in both cultivars. A significant increase in in vitro protein digestibility (34-35%), in vitro availability of Ca (59-61%), Fe (52-56%) and Zn (62-67%) may be ascribed to the reduced content of phytic acid (35-39%), polyphenols (41-42%) and trypsin inhibitor activity (69-70%). Pressure cooking was the most effective treatment in improving the nutritional quality of green gram.